A company based in Germany’s Stuttgart has taken key steps to boost driving range of electric vehicles. MAHLE claims that its highly efficient new extender system could extend the range of battery-electric vehicles to as much as 840 miles (1,350 km), making it the “motor of e-mobility.”
The system, with its high-voltage generator, addresses the range anxiety of electric vehicles.
Ready for series production
“Our products are not just visions. They are ready for series production and offer genuine solutions to genuine challenges faced by our customers,” said Arnd Franz, chairman of the MAHLE Management Board and CEO, speaking to an audience of journalists at the IAA Mobility in Munich.
The company pointed out that a compact thermal management module with an integrated heat pump can extend the range of electric vehicles by up to 20 percent even at low temperatures.
The new system from MAHLE allows the cost-effective right-sizing of the battery and reduces charging times on longer trips. The range extender system consists of a highly efficient high-voltage generator driven by a small combustion engine.
Delivers maximum range
It can reportedly deliver maximum range of 838 miles with one battery charge. Although, it will depend on vehicle model and battery size.
“Our customers expect quality, reliability, a good price-performance ratio, and efficiency,” said Arnd Franz. “And that is what MAHLE delivers.”
The company’s small, high-efficiency multi-fuel engine-generator almost doubles the range of today’s longest-range battery electric vehicles.
Mahle views its range-extenders as far more than simple independent add-on, looking at them as one component in a holistic driving architecture in which smaller batteries can replace larger ones while still alleviating, rather than intensifying, range anxiety. Those batteries will then lead to cost, weight and material savings, creating an attractive selection of affordable, efficient new-energy vehicles, reported New Atlas.
Innovation resolves the key challenge of e-mobility
MAHLE is also showcasing components for internal combustion engines that can be operated on up to 100% ethanol, massively and immediately reducing the carbon dioxide emissions of the existing vehicle pool.
“MAHLE is doing its homework and working on the decarbonization of road traffic in all areas of technology. Europe must now follow the other major world markets and allow competition between all technologies in its CO2 regulation,” said Franz. “This is not just a matter of climate protection but also of Europe’s competitiveness and safeguarding employment.”
The new thermal management module from MAHLE resolves the key challenge of e-mobility – the loss of range caused by heating at low temperatures. As the central interface for the entire cooling and refrigerant cycle of the vehicle, it ensures that each component of the drive and energy storage system is maintained at the right temperature at all times under all climate conditions at the same time as ensuring a comfortable climate in the passenger compartment, according to a press release.